The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to U.S.-based chemists Moungi Bawendi, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Louis Brus, of Columbia University and Alexei Ekimov, who works at Nanocrystals Technology for their “discovery and development of quantum dots, nanoparticles that are so small that their size determines their properties.”
The announcement appeared to have been inadvertently released hours earlier, following reports by Sweden's paper of reference, Dagens Nyheter, and public broadcasters SVT and Swedish Radio that they had received a press release from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences that named the winners.
Quantum dots are used in LED lights and computer screens and can also be used to help guide doctors removing cancerous tissue.